Category | IMSA GTP | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Constructor | All American Racers | ||||||||
Designer(s) | John Ward Hiro Fujimori (aerodynamicist) [1] | ||||||||
Predecessor | Eagle HF90 | ||||||||
Technical specifications [2] | |||||||||
Chassis | Carbon fibre and aluminum honeycomb composite monocoque with steel roll cage | ||||||||
Suspension (front) | Double wishbone with pushrod-actuated inboard spring/damper | ||||||||
Suspension (rear) | Double wishbone with pushrod-actuated bellhousing-mounted spring/damper | ||||||||
Length | 189 in (480.1 cm) | ||||||||
Width | 79 in (200.7 cm) | ||||||||
Height | 40 in (101.6 cm) | ||||||||
Wheelbase | 105 in (266.7 cm) | ||||||||
Engine | Toyota 3S-GTM 2.1 L (128 cu in) inline-4 with single Garrett AiResearch turbocharger and intercooler, mid-mounted. | ||||||||
Transmission | Ray Eades/March 5-speed + reverse manual | ||||||||
Weight | 832 kg (1,834 lb) 1992 914 kg (2,015 lb) 1993 | ||||||||
Fuel | Elf custom racing fuel (82% toluene) [3] | ||||||||
Tyres | Goodyear Eagle BBS wheels, 13x17 front, 15x17 rear | ||||||||
Competition history | |||||||||
Notable entrants | All American Racers | ||||||||
Notable drivers | Juan Manuel Fangio II P. J. Jones Andy Wallace Rocky Moran Mark Dismore | ||||||||
Debut | 1991 Grand Auto Supply Camel GT | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Teams' Championships | 2 (All American Racers, 1992 & 1993) | ||||||||
Constructors' Championships | 2 (All American Racers, 1992 & 1993) | ||||||||
Drivers' Championships | 2 (Juan Manuel Fangio II, 1992 & 1993) |
The Eagle MkIII is a sports prototype racing car built by All American Racers in 1991 to IMSA GTP specifications. Powered by a turbocharged Toyota inline-4 engine, the car was campaigned in the IMSA Camel GT series by Dan Gurney's Toyota-sponsored AAR team from 1991 through to the end of 1993. [3] The Eagle MkIII won 21 out of the 27 races in which it was entered and is considered one of the most successful and technologically advanced designs of the IMSA GTP era — "a car that proved so overwhelmingly dominant that the class for which it was created has now been assigned to history", according to Racer magazine. [2] [4]
From 1989 through 1991, AAR campaigned the Eagle HF89 (also known as the MkII [5] ), the team's first in-house, race-ready IMSA GTP design. While some success was had with the HF89 and its HF90 evolution, the chassis had a very small margin for setup error — in the words of driver Juan Manuel Fangio II, "When we were in the window, the car was good in every way, but out of the window, the car was not right at all." [3] It was clear to the team that a clean-sheet design was needed to significantly advance the chassis and provide the best platform for competing against the Nissan and Jaguar factory entries.
Two veteran AAR designers were tasked with leading the design of the MkIII chassis. John Ward focused on the tub and mechanical aspects of the car, while Hiro Fujimori was responsible for aerodynamics and styling — [1] hence, the car was internally codenamed WFO 91 for Ward, Fujimori and Others, 1991. Team members nicknamed the project "Wide F'n Open". [2] The design parameters given to the team were not groundbreaking and the designers looked to avoid risky, cutting-edge solutions wherever possible; rather, for reliability's sake, the mantra was to make the chassis simple while taking full advantage of proven technologies. However, there was one significant technological advance planned: the MkIII would be the first carbon-fiber monocoque manufactured in-house by AAR. [3]
"What we did with the MkIII was to address just about every weakness of the MkII," Gurney said. "It was not a styling exercise; everything was driven by functional considerations, and it was really a clean sheet of paper from virtually every standpoint." [5]
One of the primary flaws with the HF89/90 had been a persistent lack of front grip; combined with overwhelming amounts of rear downforce, this created an intractably imbalanced car with a significant tendency to understeer. On slow, twisty circuits typical of American racing, this was a major competitive disadvantage. [3] Thus, on the MkIII, the team first focused on creating more front downforce. This led to the inclusion of an integral front diffuser in the nose to stabilize underbody airflow and create a low-pressure zone directly under the front wheels. This was a break from the tradition of GTP and Group C cars, which had almost exclusively adhered to a single underbody with one set of tunnels running from front to rear. [5] Working in tandem with the standard ground effect tunnels under the rear of the car, the nose diffuser would balance front and rear grip while minimizing drag. [2]
To test and refine the design, a 20%-scale wind tunnel model was built, accurately replicating not just the car's external features but internal components as well — detailed down to the car's wiring, air ducting and engine bay plumbing. Several different nose concepts were modeled and discarded before settling on a final design. [6] In an effort to conceal the innovative nose air extractors, the bodywork immediately behind the front wheels was painted black. [5]
Racing car designer and aerodynamics expert Michael Fuller wrote that "the most striking feature of the MkIII was the single nose air inlet that channeled air through massive ducting to midmounted water, water-to-oil and turbo intercooler radiators." [3] By using a single aperture to feed several cooling systems, surface turbulence and drag created by air inlets was minimized. This contributed to a clean, uncluttered design that provided for smooth airflow to the rear wing, enhancing its efficiency. The front cross-section of the monocoque was also minimized as much as possible within the rules, in order to reduce drag. [3]
The turbocharged Toyota engine was largely carried over from the HF90, with the addition of a new electronic engine management system. By applying a high level of boost to the 2.1-litre stock-block engine, [5] Toyota Racing Development's shop in Torrance, California was able to wring more than 800 horsepower out of what was the smallest-displacement powerplant used in the GTP series at that point. [3] "I was told that (TRD) blew up four dynamometers... (they) didn't spare the horses," Gurney later said. [3]
For its first on-track test in the summer of 1991, AAR took the MkIII to Willow Springs Raceway, a frequent testing ground for the team. It was immediately apparent that the new MkIII was vastly superior to the HF90/MkII. "Why, it just blew off the MkII. It was obvious," Gurney said. [3]
The Eagle MkIII made its racing debut late in the 1991 IMSA Camel GT season, in the hands of Juan Manuel Fangio II at the 1991 Grand Auto Supply Camel GT on July 21 at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California. As the MkIII was a yet-unproven design, the team also entered an HF90 chassis for teammate P. J. Jones. Though a pit stop penalty dropped Fangio to seventh when the checkered flag fell, he and the MkIII led most of the race by almost a minute, showing dominating speed throughout — an early portent of what was to come. [3] [5] At the next race at Portland International Raceway in Portland, Oregon, Fangio captured the MkIII's maiden victory.
The 1992 IMSA Camel GT season opened with one of the most competitive fields ever assembled in the series, and it promised to be a pitched championship battle. AAR's two-car effort with the Toyota Eagle MkIII would be pitted against similar two-car entries from a pair of major factory contenders: the four-time defending champion Nissan factory NPT-91 and the new-to-GTP Jaguar XJR-14, powered by a detuned-for-WSC Formula 1 engine. [3] But as it transpired, neither the Nissan nor the Jaguar would prove to be anything close to a match for Gurney's Toyota-powered Eagle. [5] Of the season's 13 races, Jaguar would manage three wins, Nissan one — and the remaining 9 were all Toyota victories, including the final seven in a row.
At the 24 Hours of Daytona, the still-developing MkIII had mixed results. The #98 of P. J. Jones, Rocky Moran and Mark Dismore finished a solid fourth, while the #99 of Juan Manuel Fangio II, Andy Wallace and Kenny Acheson suffered mechanical maladies that left it more than 100 laps down at the race's conclusion. [7]
The Eagle MkIII and AAR would prove to be a victim of their own success — the car proved to be so dominant that Nissan and Jaguar withdrew their factory teams from the series at the end of the season. [3]
Without Nissan and Jaguar, there was little competition for the AAR/Toyota team and the writing was on the wall for the GTP formula — the 1993 IMSA Camel GT season was to be the last for the budget-busting prototypes. Only a handful of GTPs contested the full season, but it did not matter — Fangio, Jones and the MkIII clearly outclassed the field. The two drivers combined to win 10 out of the season's 11 races. The only race the MkIII did not win that season, it was not even entered — for reasons never explained to Gurney, Toyota withheld funding for the season's 8th round, at Road America. This broke the team's IMSA GTP winning streak at 14 consecutive races — however, the MkIII went on to win the season's final three rounds, so AAR refers to the car as winning 17 consecutive races entered. [3] At the end of the year, the GTP category was discontinued and Toyota withdrew support. The MkIII had run its last race in earnest. [5]
|
|
All American Racers is an American-licensed auto racing team and constructor based in Santa Ana, California. Founded by Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby in 1964, All American Racers initially participated in American sports car and Champ Car races as well as international Formula One events with cars named Eagle. The Formula One team, based in the United Kingdom and using British-built Weslake engines was named Anglo American Racers. Under team manager Bill Dunne they set up shop in Rye, East Sussex. The team were adjacent to Harry Weslake's engine development plant and half a mile from Elva cars. They participated in 25 Grands Prix, entering a total of 34 cars.
The Porsche 962 is a sports-prototype racing car built by Porsche as a replacement for the 956 and designed mainly to comply with IMSA's GTP regulations, although it would later compete in the European Group C formula as the 956 had. The 962 was introduced at the end of 1984, from which it quickly became successful through private owners while having a remarkably long-lived career, with some examples still proving competitive into the mid-1990s. The vehicle was later replaced by the Porsche WSC-95.
The Jaguar XJR-9 is a sports-prototype race car built by Jaguar for both FIA Group C and IMSA Camel GTP racing, debuting at the 1988 24 Hours of Daytona.
Juan Manuel Fangio II is an Argentine former auto racing driver. He is the nephew of five-time Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
Joest Racing is a sports car racing team that was established in 1978 by former Porsche works racer Reinhold Joest. Their headquarters are in Wald-Michelbach, Germany.
The Jaguar XJR sportscars were a series of race cars used by Jaguar-backed teams in both the World Sportscar Championship (WSC) Group C and the IMSA Camel GTP series between 1984 and 1993.
Spice Engineering was a British racing team founded by driver Gordon Spice with Raymond Bellm in the early 1980s, later becoming a successful sports car constructor in 1986. They competed in the World Sportscar Championship in Europe as well as the IMSA GT Championship in North America, at times partnering with major manufacturers such as General Motors and Honda as well as race engine manufacturer Comptech.
IMSA GT was a sports car racing series organized by International Motor Sports Association. Races took place primarily in the United States, and occasionally in Canada.
The Chevrolet Corvette GTP was an American Grand Touring Prototype-class sports prototype racing car which successfully participated in the IMSA Camel GT from 1984 until 1989. The car was professionally fielded in competition as General Motors' Chevrolet Corvette C4 official factory team effort in the IMSA GTP class.
The Nissan R90C was a platform used for Group C racing cars built in 1990 by Nissan Motors for competition in World Sportscar Championship (WSC) based in Europe and the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship (JSPC). The cars based on the basic R90C platform would compete until 1993 before Nissan chose to withdraw from sports car racing, not returning until 1997. It won three JSPC championships and several significant endurance races during its career.
The Nissan P35 was a planned Group C car built by Nissan Motors for competition in the World Sportscar Championship. Developed by Nissan Performance Technology Inc. (NPTI), which had formerly raced under the name Electramotive in the United States, the cars were intended to be completed by the middle of 1992, with competition starting in 1993. However economic troubles for Nissan led to the cancellation of the project soon after testing of the first cars had begun, meaning that the P35s never raced.
The Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo was a series of racing cars developed for Nissan Motors by Electramotive Engineering to compete in the IMSA GT Championship. Running from 1985 to 1990, they were known for being the first car to defeat the Porsche 962 which had dominated IMSA's premiere GTP category. This led to Nissan winning the constructor's championship and 12 Hours of Sebring in 1989 and 1990. During 1990, the GTP ZX-Turbo was replaced by the newer NPT-90.
The Nissan NPT-90 was a racing car developed in 1990 for Nissan Motors by Nissan Performance Technology Incorporated (NPTI), formerly known as Electramotive Engineering. It was a replacement for the highly successful GTP ZX-Turbo that had won the IMSA GT Championship in 1989. The NPT-90 would go on to win the championship in 1990 and 1991 before being retired by Nissan at the end of the 1992 season.
The Mazda RX-792P is a sports prototype racing car built for the IMSA GT Championship's GTP category for Mazda. Its career was short lived, with only two cars running in 1992 before the project was abandoned.
The Riley & Scott Mark III was a sports prototype auto racing car developed by Bob Riley, Bill Riley, and Mark Scott of Riley & Scott Cars Inc. Initially designed in 1993, the car was created for the World Sports Car (WSC) category which was to debut in the North American IMSA GT Championship during their 1994 season. It was not until 1995 that the first Mk III was completed, but the construction of further cars allowed a variety of teams to campaign in several North American and European racing series, including competing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The Eagle HF89 and its evolution, the Eagle HF90, is a racing car built and entered by Dan Gurney's All American Racers team, for the IMSA GT Championship. It was raced from 1989 until 1991 in IMSA's premier sports-car racing category, the GTP division. The design was also sometimes called the Eagle MkII.
The Toyota 88C was a racing car entered by Toyota from 1988 to 1989. It is the successor to the Toyota 87C and the predecessor to the Toyota 88C-V. Like other Toyota-powered sports prototypes of the era, it was designed and built by Dome. The 88C is an evolution of the 87C, both models sharing the same chassis number designation. The 88Cs competed in the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship, the World Sports-Prototype Championship, and the North American Camel GT Championship.
Tony Southgate is a British engineer and former racing car designer. He designed many successful cars, including Jaguar's Le Mans-winning XJR-9, and cars for almost every type of circuit racing. He was responsible for the chassis design of Ford's RS200 Group B rally car. Southgate was employed as chief designer or technical director for many Formula One teams for over twenty years. These teams included BRM, Shadow and Arrows. Southgate retired after producing the Audi R8C, which was a major influence in the Bentley Speed 8, which won Le Mans in 2003. He continues to be a regular visitor to current and historic race meetings.
The Intrepid RM-1 is a sports prototype racing car designed in 1991 by Bob and Bill Riley and built by Pratt & Miller to IMSA GTP specifications. Powered by a Chevrolet V8 engine, it was campaigned variously by Jim Miller, Prototype Technology Group and Wayne Taylor in the IMSA Camel GT from 1991 through 1993. Though it won only one race in its three seasons of competition, the shovel-nosed Intrepid was notable for the extreme—and at one point, disastrous—levels of downforce it generated, giving it the highest cornering speeds of any prototype of its era. The car's development was set back by a devastating 1991 crash at Watkins Glen that critically injured driver Tommy Kendall, and the program never fully recovered.
Crawford Composites is an American manufacturer of carbon fiber and composite parts company based in Denver, North Carolina. Crawford designs and manufacture structural and non-structural composite components in industries such as aerospace, aviation, motor sports, health care, defense and structural construction.